John Leon

John Leon worked as a private detective. In 1960 he was employed by Carmine Bellino to bug the phones of Engelhard Industries for JFK during the presidential election. Charles W. Engelhard, a South African diamond merchant, had discovered that Kennedy was having an affair with a nineteen year old student at Radcliffe College. Engelhard had attempted to employ a private detective in Boston to obtain photographs of Kennedy with this student. The detective refused and informed Kennedy of what was going on and this resulted in Bellino organizing the wiretap.

Leon was later convicted of wire-tapping. By the early 1970s he was running a detective agency called Allied Investigators Incorporated in Washington. Lou Russell was one of the men Leon employed.

In March, 1972, Russell purchased $3,000 in electronic eavesdropping equipment from Leon. Russell's friend, Charles F. Knight, was told that this equipment had been purchased for James W. McCord. This equipment was used to tape the telephone conversations between politicians based at the Democratic Party National Committee and a small group of prostitutes run by Phillip Mackin Bailley that worked their trade in the Columbia Plaza.

On 16th June, 1972, Lou Russell told his daughter he had to return to Washington to do "some work for McCord" that night. It was estimated that he arrived back at the Howard Johnson's Motel at around 12.45 a.m. At 1.30 a.m. Russell had a meeting with McCord. It is not clear what role Russell played in the Watergate break-in. Jim Hougan (Secret Agenda) has suggested that he was helping McCord to "sabotage the break-in".

Later that night Frank Sturgis, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, Bernard L. Barker and James W. McCord were arrested while in the Democratic Party headquarters in Watergate. Russell was interviewed by the FBI soon afterwards. He claimed that during the break-in he was in his rooming house. The FBI agents did not believe him but none of the burglars claimed he had been involved in the conspiracy and he was released.

According to Jerris Leonard, a supporter of Richard Nixon, Leon told Carmine Bellino, an investigator who worked for Edward Kennedy and the Senate Administrative Practices Committee, about Russell's problems. Bellino phoned Russell. It is not known was was said but as a result of this conversation Russell went to stay with Bellino's friend, William Birely on the top floor of the Twin Towers complex in Silver Spring, Maryland. Birely was also a close friend of Lee R. Pennington. Both men had been active members of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Leon claimed that Russell had been a spy for the Democratic Party within CREEP and that he had tipped off Carmine Bellino and the police about the Watergate break-in. At the time Leon was working on a counter-investigation for the Republican Party. Leon claimed that Watergate was a set up and the operation had been sabotaged from within.

On 2nd July, 1973, Lou Russell died of a heart attack. Leon now began contacting others who had worked with him for Carmine Bellino during the presidential campaign. This included former CIA officer John Frank, congressional investigator Edward M. Jones and Joseph Shimon, a former inspector for the Washington Police Department. Leon and the others provided affidavits claiming that the JFK had ordered the bugging of Richard Nixon during the 1960 presidential election. Leon now passed this information to Jerris Leonard, an attorney working for the Republican National Committee (RNC).

George Bush, the chairman of the RNC announced there would be press conference on 13th July, 1973. John Leon was to be the star witness. However, Leon suffered a heart-attack and died on the day he was due to appear at the press conference.

John Leon worked as a private detective. In 1960 he was employed by Carmine Bellino to bug the phones of Engelhard Industries for JFK during the presidential election. Charles W. Engelhard, a South African diamond merchant, had discovered that Kennedy was having an affair with a nineteen year old student at Radcliffe College. Engelhard had attempted to employ a private detective in Boston to obtain photographs of Kennedy with this student. The detective refused and informed Kennedy of what was going on and this resulted in Bellino organizing the wiretap.

Leon was later convicted of wire-tapping. By the early 1970s he was running a detective agency called Allied Investigators Incorporated in Washington. Lou Russell was one of the men Leon employed.

In March, 1972, Russell purchased $3,000 in electronic eavesdropping equipment from Leon. Russell's friend, Charles F. Knight, was told that this equipment had been purchased for James W. McCord. This equipment was used to tape the telephone conversations between politicians based at the Democratic Party National Committee and a small group of prostitutes run by Phillip Mackin Bailley that worked their trade in the Columbia Plaza.

On 16th June, 1972, Lou Russell told his daughter he had to return to Washington to do "some work for McCord" that night. It was estimated that he arrived back at the Howard Johnson's Motel at around 12.45 a.m. At 1.30 a.m. Russell had a meeting with McCord. It is not clear what role Russell played in the Watergate break-in. Jim Hougan (Secret Agenda) has suggested that he was helping McCord to "sabotage the break-in".

Later that night Frank Sturgis, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, Bernard L. Barker and James W. McCord were arrested while in the Democratic Party headquarters in Watergate. Russell was interviewed by the FBI soon afterwards. He claimed that during the break-in he was in his rooming house. The FBI agents did not believe him but none of the burglars claimed he had been involved in the conspiracy and he was released.

According to Jerris Leonard, a supporter of Richard Nixon, Leon told Carmine Bellino, an investigator who worked for Edward Kennedy and the Senate Administrative Practices Committee, about Russell's problems. Bellino phoned Russell. It is not known was was said but as a result of this conversation Russell went to stay with Bellino's friend, William Birely on the top floor of the Twin Towers complex in Silver Spring, Maryland. Birely was also a close friend of Lee R. Pennington. Both men had been active members of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Leon claimed that Russell had been a spy for the Democratic Party within CREEP and that he had tipped off Carmine Bellino and the police about the Watergate break-in. At the time Leon was working on a counter-investigation for the Republican Party. Leon claimed that Watergate was a set up and the operation had been sabotaged from within.

On 2nd July, 1973, Lou Russell died of a heart attack. Leon now began contacting others who had worked with him for Carmine Bellino during the presidential campaign. This included former CIA officer John Frank, congressional investigator Edward M. Jones and Joseph Shimon, a former inspector for the Washington Police Department. Leon and the others provided affidavits claiming that the JFK had ordered the bugging of Richard Nixon during the 1960 presidential election. Leon now passed this information to Jerris Leonard, an attorney working for the Republican National Committee (RNC).

George Bush, the chairman of the RNC announced there would be press conference on 13th July, 1973. John Leon was to be the star witness. However, Leon suffered a heart-attack and died on the day he was due to appear at the press conference.

Did he cancel the press conference? If so do you think Bush was about to reveal some kind of dirt on prominent Democratic politicians or "damage control" re: potential revelations of Republican "dirty tricks"? I don't know a lot about Lou Russell but to me he seems to appear somewhat enigmatic regarding whether or not his personal loyalties were to the Republican or Democratic party?

Did he cancel the press conference? If so do you think Bush was about to reveal some kind of dirt on prominent Democratic politicians or "damage control" re: potential revelations of Republican "dirty tricks"? I don't know a lot about Lou Russell but to me he seems to appear somewhat enigmatic regarding whether or not his personal loyalties were to the Republican or Democratic party?

The press conference took place but minus its key witness, John Leon. John Frank, Edward M. Jones and Joseph Shimon, all testified that Carmine Bellino had been involved in wire-tapping. However, eventually it was decided that there was not enough evidence to charge Bellino with any crimes. At the time, it was believed that George Bush was trying to direct attention towards Democrat dirty tricks.

Lou Russell had a long history of working on behalf the Republican Party. It is possible he was a man for hire and that he willingly sabotaged the operation from within. If he did, then McCord was part of the same plot. Yet all the evidence is that McCord was working on behalf of Helms and the CIA in the struggle with Nixon. Is it possible that Watergate was a CIA/Democrat set up? If so, it could be argued that Leon, who was close to Russell, went to the Republicans with the story. However, there is a problem with this scenario. It is recorded that when Russell was pulled in by the FBI after the Watergate break-in, Leon contacted Carmine Bellino about it. It is true that Russell and Leon had both worked for Bellino. However, Bellino had employed them on behalf of the Democratic Party.

The next stage is also confusing. Bellino puts Russell into contact with William Birely, who hides him away in top floor of the Twin Towers complex in Silver Spring, Maryland. Birely, was a right-wing Republican. If Bellino wanted to help the Democrats and hurt the Republicans, he would have wanted Russell to a deal like the one obtained by Alfred Baldwin. This would have ensured an early end to Nixon. Instead, Bellino and Birely successfully kept Russell from testifying. The death of Russell and Leon completed this process.

One possible answer to this riddle is that the Republicans and Democrats would have been both hurt by the testimony of Russell and Leon. It was therefore in both their interests to keep them quiet.

Another possible solution to this mystery is that Bellino and Birely were all working for another organization, the CIA. Maybe they were the real beneficiaries of the deaths of Leon and Russell.

I think that there is a good chance that Bellino was a CIA asset. When Robert Maheu was first recruited by the CIA they insisted he stopped sharing an office with Bellino. Why? Maheu gives the lame excuse that Bellino and the Kennedys had been associated with Joe McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the CIA were still upset by the way some of their officers (Frank Wisner, Cord Meyer, etc.) had been treated during this period. This is a ridiculous explanation. Maybe the CIA were protecting themselves. It would not do to have two CIA cut-outs working in the same office. If one was exposed, people would start asking questions about the other one.

If Bellino was CIA, then that raises issues about his relationship with the Kennedy family. For example, Robert Kennedy suggested to Richard Goodwin that Bellino should carry out the “Kennedy” investigation into the assassination of JFK. Maybe it was Bellino who first suggested this. This would have been like LBJ commissioning the Warren Report. Bellino would have come up with the report that the CIA would have wanted. RFK, who had great respect for Bellino, would have been convinced by the report. That of course would not have been true if he realized that Bellino was a CIA asset.

Anyone know enough about them to post a probable rate of false positives versus false negatives?

Tim,

In the early days of lie detector technology, you could beat them with techniques like a pebble in the shoe which effectively throws the body's responses out of whack. I'm sure that these days it is all very advanced and one would need to be very slippery.

It's like what George from 'Seinfeld' said, "It's only a lie if you believe it to be a lie."

American Indian walks into psychiatrist's office, says, "Doctor, you've got to help me! I'm delusional!"

"How so?" the doctor asks.

"Well," he says, "sometimes I think I am a wigwam. Other times I think I'm a teepee! All day long, it's wigwam, teepee, or teepee, wigwam!" and he repeats that stanza with increasing loudness and rapidity until he works up a sweat.

Psychiatrist says: "Relax, man! I know your problem! It's just that you are too tense!"

Is this information on the web? According to one site, John Larson, a University of California medical student, invented the modern lie detector (polygraph) in 1921. (John Simkin)

John,

I don't know if this is on the web or not as I haven't tried to Google it, but during the mid 1950's, New York Representative Edmund Radwan, was pushing for new research into lie detector technology so the results could be used in a court of law.

John W. Leon was a lie detector operator at the time who was supporting Radwan. Supposedly, CIA was very interested in this and was behind any push for technological advancements.